These young children learn from their physical environment. We honor this method of learning through sensori-motor teaching techniques. Through this process the child is taught breath control, correct floating posture, and the skills to attain a back float and remain floating for varied periods of time. Lessons typically last approximately 4-5 weeks for most infants, but may require a bit longer for some babies. Your child must be either crawling OR be able to roll over both ways and sit independently on land in order to start rollback-to-float lessons. Children older than 12 -14 months who are walking are taught the swim-float-swim sequence – swimming in a face down position, using his/her arms and legs; rolling onto the back to a survival float when the normal "need for air" is sensed in the chest; and then flipping back over to continue swimming. We teach using behavioral psychology, sensorimotor learning and positive reinforcement, to make the otherwise unforgiving water environment safe for your children to learn what will work to allow them to make progress in swimming and obtain air when they need it. ISR has numerous safety protocols to provide the safest possible lesson. It typically takes 6 weeks to learn all the skills. The exact length of time varies somewhat since every lesson is uniquely tailored to each child and every child is different. Typically, older children between 4-6 years of age will complete lessons in a shorter period of time.
